Moby Dick (1956) | |
| Director(s) | John Huston |
| Producer(s) | Jack Clayton (associate), John Huston |
| Top Genres | Adventure, Drama, Film Adaptation |
| Top Topics | |
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Moby Dick Overview:
Moby Dick (1956) was a Adventure - Drama Film directed by John Huston and produced by John Huston and Jack Clayton.
BlogHub Articles:
Warner Archive: John Barrymore in a Pre-code Version of Moby Dick (1930)
By KC on Sep 27, 2016 From Classic Movies"Call me Ishamael." Herman Melville's opening line to Moby Dick is one of the most famous first sentences in English literature, and yet, when a large volume of the book is opened to the first page in the credits of this pre-code take on the novel, there is no Ishamael in sight. The man himself neve... Read full article
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Quotes from
Captain Ahab:
Blacksmith, I set ye a task. Take these harpoons and lances. Melt them down. Forge me new weapons that will strike deep and hold fast. But do not douse them in water; they must have a proper baptism. What say ye, all ye men? Will you give as much blood as shall be needed to temper the steel?
Ishmael: [in voice-over narration] He did not feel the wind, or smell the salt air. He only stood, staring at the horizon, with the marks of some inner crucifixion and woe deep in his face.
Captain Ahab: From hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee. Ye damned whale.
read more quotes from Moby Dick...
Ishmael: [in voice-over narration] He did not feel the wind, or smell the salt air. He only stood, staring at the horizon, with the marks of some inner crucifixion and woe deep in his face.
Captain Ahab: From hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee. Ye damned whale.
read more quotes from Moby Dick...
Facts about
Orson Welles' one-scene cameo helped to fund his stage production of the very same story.
Although Ishmael is supposed to be in his twenties, Richard Basehart was actually forty when the film was made - two years older than Gregory Peck.
Over the years, John Huston and Gregory Peck, among others, have talked about how during filming on the Irish Sea, the company lost one - some say as many as three - rubber white whales; the assumption being that the special effects people built complete 60-foot leviathans from head to fin. However, cinematographer Oswald Morris, in his autobiography, "Huston, We Have a Problem," said that no full-length model whale was ever built. He claims the film company trolled the sea on the Pequod with a props barge nearby. The barge carried various parts of the whale's body (tailfins, hump, etc.), which were used as needed. The only complete whale bodies were different-sized miniatures that were filmed in a special tank designed by special-effects whiz Augie Lohman at Shepperton Studios. Likewise, all the shots of the whale's head were filmed indoors (as they couldn't make the jaws, eyes and other components work on the open sea). According to Morris, the "lost" whale was a 20-foot-high cylinder of the middle section which broke away from its tow line and floated away (he doesn't say if Peck was on board when the prop was lost), but he implies that it was the only whale "casualty" in the entire production.
read more facts about Moby Dick...Although Ishmael is supposed to be in his twenties, Richard Basehart was actually forty when the film was made - two years older than Gregory Peck.
Over the years, John Huston and Gregory Peck, among others, have talked about how during filming on the Irish Sea, the company lost one - some say as many as three - rubber white whales; the assumption being that the special effects people built complete 60-foot leviathans from head to fin. However, cinematographer Oswald Morris, in his autobiography, "Huston, We Have a Problem," said that no full-length model whale was ever built. He claims the film company trolled the sea on the Pequod with a props barge nearby. The barge carried various parts of the whale's body (tailfins, hump, etc.), which were used as needed. The only complete whale bodies were different-sized miniatures that were filmed in a special tank designed by special-effects whiz Augie Lohman at Shepperton Studios. Likewise, all the shots of the whale's head were filmed indoors (as they couldn't make the jaws, eyes and other components work on the open sea). According to Morris, the "lost" whale was a 20-foot-high cylinder of the middle section which broke away from its tow line and floated away (he doesn't say if Peck was on board when the prop was lost), but he implies that it was the only whale "casualty" in the entire production.
